NATO members are kicking off their summit Tuesday in The Hague and expect to discuss raising each country’s contribution to the body’s defense budget.

The spotlight is likely to be on President Trump, who will arrive in the Netherlands hours after announcing a ceasefire he helped broker between Iran and Israel following his bombing of three Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend.

The president found himself scolding both countries Tuesday after Israel and Iran lobbed attacks against one another hours before the ceasefire went into effect, demonstrating the tenuousness of the agreement.

As for NATO, Mr. Trump told reporters on the White House’s South Lawn before he flew off that he thinks his time at the summit will be successful.

Mr. Trump has been urging NATO members to raise the benchmark of their defense spending to 5% of their country’s GDP, up by 1.5%.

“When I went to NATO, they were broke. When I first started this whole thing, seems like a long time ago, nine years. But they were broke. I knew it immediately,” he said, noting seven of the member countries weren’t paying their dues.

Spain is the only NATO member expected to opt out of raising its defense spending threshold, which Mr. Trump said is “unfair” to other nations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he’s scheduled to meet Tuesday with Mr. Trump after the two failed to meet at last week’s Group of Seven summit in Canada.

In an interview with The Kyiv Independent, Mr. Zelenskyy expressed concerns over the U.S. position on Russian aggression, adding that Kyiv and Washington should be strong allies against Moscow.

“It is a complicated question because I truly do not know what relationship Trump has with Putin,” Mr. Zelenskyy said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “They will never be friends. They may be short-term partners, but they will never be friends.”

He added that he hopes Mr. Trump will use his relationship with Mr. Putin to force Russia to peace negotiations.

Mr. Trump told reporters he would like to see a deal with Russia, noting that Mr. Putin called him and offered help in dealing with Iran.

“I said, ’No, I don’t need help with Iran. I need help with you.’ And I hope we’re going to be getting a deal done with Russia, which is a shame. Six thousand soldiers died last week.”

Mr. Trump said he was “committed to saving lives.”

• Vaughn Cockayne contributed to this story.

• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.